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Llewellyn Mavis

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MavisLlewellyn

A school teacher inNantymoeland an elected CommunistCouncillorduring the1930sand40s, MavisLlewellynwas well known for championing many local causes, particularly those relating to unemployment and health. Her uncle, Fred, was a Communist countycouncillor. The astonishing news that police had raided the family home came in the Daily Worker of 21 December 1934, which headlined: “Looking For Guns And Bombs!”

Five police officers raided the house inNantymoel. After ransacking the house from top to bottom, about to leave, they refused to say what they intended to do next. As Fred Llewellynput it: “Every nook, cranny and receptacle in every room of the house was ransacked in search of deadly weapons. I accompanied the officers during their search, even to the coal cellar. Events are moving apace atOgmoreValley, and Fascism, emboldened by the passing of the Sedition Bill and the Unemployment Bill, stalks through the valley with arrogance.”

Clearly a provocation, the incident roused tremendous mass feeling. A mass meeting was held and the matter was raised in miners' lodges and on the county council. Actually, the house in question actually belonged to theLlewellyn’sbrother and his wife, with whom he lodged. As everyone in the village knew, they had “no connection whatever with the Communist Party, both being ardent religionists and life Members of the Calvinistic Church".

However, his niece, Mavis, would become a Communistcouncillorin 1936 and later a parliamentary candidate. She was the partner of Lewis Jones, (see separate entry) also a Communist countycouncillor, who died before completing one of his great novels,We Live.MavisLlewellynis reputed to have completed the final tender sections of the novel after Jones' early death.

In later life, MavisLlewellynlived at47 Commercial Street,Natymoel, nearBridgend.South Wales. She was also a candidate in the 1950 general election for the Party.